Seven Ghosts
The 7 Ghosts: '''namely Profe, Fest, Zehel, Relikt, Vertrag, Landkarte and Ea, are said to be heavenly lights created by the Chief of Heaven, each with their own unique virtue, that were sent from Heaven to dispatch the God of Death, Verloren, for his actions. Despite Verloren's fall over 1000 years ago, the souls of the Seven Ghosts continue to be reincarnated in human bodies, unable to return to heaven, to guard the earth should Verloren return. The Barsburg Church exists to enshrine them.Said by Lance in Kapitel 23. The number of the Ghosts symbolises their connection to God, as the number 'seven' is often seen as the number of God (as is the case with the Seven Archangels; it is also worth noting that District 7 is home to the Barsburg Church and the most religious District in the Empire). As Vertrag and Relikt have been devoured by Ayanami, there are currently five Ghosts remaining. Form Their true appearance is in the form of a hooded skeleton, (like the grim reaper) each of them wielding a large scythe. Their appearance is the same as Verloren since they are made up of Verloren's fragments. The only way the ghosts are distinguishable from each other are the differing shapes of their scythes. They inhabit the body of their human host, and it is in this human body how they are normally seen. They are indistinguishable from regular humans save for the insignia of their respective ghost on the back of their right hand. A particularly skilled person can detect a Ghost from their presence,In Kapitel 8 Teito is able to single out Castor as a Ghost as he has the same 'scent' as Zehel. but it is implied one only has this ability (to recognise Ghosts in human bodies) once one has come into contact with a Ghost.Teito was only able to sense Castor was a Ghost after he had come into direct contact with another Ghost, Zehel. Since only blood descendants of the Seven Houses of God can be reincarnated as the Seven Ghosts, the vessels/reincarnations of the Ghosts tend to resemble each other e.g. Guido resembled Frau, the Raggs War Relikt resembled Lance etc. The Seven Ghosts Each Ghost has been embodied in a human being with such extraordinary Zaiphon abilities that they are thought to be blessed by God. Each of the Ghosts had died in a previous life, yet still retains all of the memories of their past lives. For more information see the respective Ghost pages: Acting as Ghost There must be seven Ghosts at any one time, but no two people can act as the same Ghost at any one time. When a ghost dies, their soul will find another body to inhabit, and the new host will act as a Ghost. When the first seven arrived on earth, they each assumed a human form and went on to live human lives; they married humans, had human children and died as humans. The Seven Ghosts and their human families went on to form the Seven Houses of God, and the Ghost's powers were passed on to their children, and further generations. Only blood descendants of the Seven Houses of God can be reincarnated as Ghosts. Becoming a Ghost The Ghost itself (the spirit) needs a human body. A Ghost's powers are hereditary, meaning only a member of a God House (someone who is a descendant of the original Ghost) can be reincarnated as a Ghost. For someone to become a Ghost, they have to die first. It is currently unknown what the circumstances surrounding death are, but it may only occur when the person has died an unnatural death (i.e. murder or suicide, not old age or disease).None of the Ghosts introduced has died a natural death. Upon death, the true form of the Ghost (the skeleton) will inhabit the dead body (something akin to using it as a host so the spirit is able to interact with the mortal world), granting the person that ability to 'live' along with the Ghost's power. Rules Ghosts must act in accordance to certain rules. These rules may have been laid down by the Pope, and are monitored by the Archbishop. *Ghosts must never contact persons from their human life. *Ghosts must never let their existence be known to humans with the exceptions of the Pope, the Archbishop, the Assistant Archbishop(s) and the vessels of the Eyes of Mikhail and Raphael. Any other human must have his or her memories erased if he or she learns of the existence of the Ghosts. *The protection of mankind against Verloren's forces is the ultimate priority. *Only in the instance that the ghosts complete their mission (specifically, to bring Verloren to Seele, his "Judgement Ground") in life that they will be allowed to return to Heaven. As long as this mission is incomplete, the Seven Ghosts will continue to be reincarnated to pursue an end to this goal. If a Ghost breaks any of the rules set down by the Pope, they will be stripped of their powers,In Kapitel 8 Castor says: "if the higher-ups learn about htis you'll be striped of the right to be a Ghost". presumably resulting in their death. Death Death of the body The Ghost spirit will be reincarnated in a new body when the current body dies, and that person will gain all knowledge of the past Ghosts' experiences. Death of the Ghost The only way the spirit of the Ghost can die is if it is 'devoured' by Verloren (meaning the soul is absorbed and becomes a part of Verloren- like it once was). This is done by absorbing the "core" of the current Ghost Incarnate; the core serving as both heart and soul of the reincarnated body. Both Vertrag and Relikt have been 'devoured'. This means their souls will no longer reincarnate in new bodies, so there cannot be a future Vertrag and Relikt. Their statues in the Chruch had also fallen as a sign of this death; it is believed that as long as a Ghost's statue stands, the Ghost will continue to be reincarnated in the world. Castor as Fest had also lost half of his capabilities because Ayanami had devoured it, but is yet to die due to the fact that Ayanami's (also Verloren's) current body is incapable of taking him and all the other Ghosts in. This is supposed to be Ayanami's weakness and in Vol 014 Chp 083 Castor was seen scheming about in a flashback. He indicated to both Frau and Labrador that they could cause Verloren's current body (Ayanami) to self-destruct by forcing it to devour them all (something which Frau strongly disagrees with). Yet later during his and Labrador's capture, Castor notioned that he was hoping to have Ayanami throw the other two--Relikt and Vertrag--out by having himself devoured, meaning there may still be a possibility to recover the other deceased ghosts from Verloren, though this is to be confirmed further in the series. Relation to real-world religion The abilities of the Seven Ghosts include aspects of the Seven Heavenly virtues in Chirstian belief: seven attributes that make up a good person. *Zehel is able to stop a person from being consumed by temptation. The virtue '''temperence is the ability to restrain oneself and fight against desire. *Fest strengthens and maintains the bond between people. The virtue faith is the ability to stay loyal, faithful and committed to another. *Profe can see into the future, and the virtue prudence is associated with foresight, knowledge and wisdom. *Ea's job is to decide who goes to Heaven, and who is reincarnated based on their actions. The virtue justice is defined as 'rendering to each and all what is due to them'. Cultural impact in-series The Ghosts are widely revered in the Barsburg Church (a deeply religious District) as deities; where they are regarded as guardians of humankind and the Church. The religious believe the Ghosts themselves have a direct connection to the Church, and the Church teachings place more importance on the Ghosts than any other deity. Seven idols of the Ghosts have been erected- each one in a tower at the border of the Church- where people go to worship. Annual parades are held in the Church bazaar as a tribute. The Bishops in the Church work to carry out the work of the Ghosts by protecting citizens against the Kor, (a form of Verloren's evil) so are praised as protectors. As a result of their job of punishing bad souls,According to Frau, since Verloren was the God of Death who sends the soul back to earth or, if the soul can no longer be saved, turns it to ashes, thus the 7 ghosts also eat souls. These tainted souls that they have eaten are sent to Heaven. mothers sometimes threaten naughty children that the Seven Ghosts will take them away if they do not behave. In the 1st District, where religion is not as influential, horror stories are sometimes told about the Ghosts stealing souls in a similar way to how stories of Verloren are told in the 7th District.Kapitel 2 page 25, a soldier says "I heard from my grandmother that there are mosters called the Seven Ghosts inside that Church". There is a children's game called 'Seven Ghosts' in the 07-Ghost universe. In a manga chapter, a group of children in the Barsburg Church are shown playing this hide-and-seek game, in which one plays the role of Verloren and hunts out the other children who play the roles of the Seven Ghosts. Abilities and attributes The Seven Ghosts all possess the ability to erase or otherwise alter a person's memories.Shown when Castor/Fest planned to erase Teito's memories, and asked Frau/Zehel why he (Frau/Zehel) had not done so. As humans cannot know of the Ghost's existence, this is used to erase any memory of the Ghost in the human. The Ghosts also seem to be able to make their true forms temporarily leave their human, host bodies. Also, it is possible that the Ghosts can recover faster from injuries than ordinary humans, as Frau/Zehel recovered almost instantly when Teito, possessed by Mikhail, stabbed him (although admittedly he was protected by Verloren's scythe) and Castor/Fest managed to survive an attack from the Pope, who was possessed at the time, although he (Castor/Fest) was still significantly weakened. Since the host body is dead, their hearts do not beat and their bodies do not give off heat, it is probable that all of them have a much greater tolerance of extremely low temperatures than ordinary humans, as proven when Teito felt very cold when travelling in the mountains with Frau while Frau felt fine, and when Labrador slept outside some nights but did not seem affected by the cold. Frau himself admits that his body, as a Ghost, is 'amazingly stubborn' (he says this to Teito in a manga chapter). Apart from their supernatural abilities, all seven members of the current generation of Ghosts have been shown to be skilled fighters, e.g. Castor is a trained assassin, Castor, Lance and Frau are gifted with strong Zaiphon, and Karu is quick and agile enough to almost instantaneously avoid a sword strike from Katsuragi, despite not being able to see. Katsuragi says in manga chapter 89 that for the Seven Ghosts, 'toying with other people's souls is nothing.' This could mean that the Ghosts are all capable of manipulating souls with ease. Regardless of how they died, once they have been reincarnated, the Seven Ghosts apparently do not suffer any lasting ill effects from their causes of death (e.g. Karu was poisoned but was physically perfectly healthy when he was reincarnated). Specific abilities As the Ghosts were fashioned from Verloren, each Ghost has a different ability that used to belong to Verloren. For more detail see the respective Ghost pages. * Zehel is able to cut ties binding people to misfortune, and is currently the only one who can contol Verloren's Scythe. * Fest can bind souls together. * Profe has the ability to control plants, and see the future. * Relikt has the ability to turn back time and see the past. * Vertrag is able to control (possess) a person by making a contract with them. * Landkarte is able to teleport beings and move distances at a very outstanding speed. * Ea has been shown to possess the Book of Hades, and be the only one to use it. History The creation of the Ghosts The Seven Ghosts are amongst the earliest 'gods' created by the Chief of heaven and their existence dates back roughly 1000 years. At the time of their creation, humanity was already present. The legend of the ghosts tells that Verloren (the God of Death) was in love with the Chief of Heaven's daughter, Eve, but after her skeleton was found and her soul devoured, the Chief of Heaven accused Verloren of killing her. As Eve's soul being devoured automatically forced it to be sent to earth and reincarnated, Verloren escaped the heavens and fled to earth to find her reincarnation. Verloren began looking into the hearts of humans in order to find the soul that originally belonged to Eve. However as he looked, that person's heart was instantly tainted by his presence, and slowly slipped into despair. This meant those souls could not enter Heaven in this life because they were no longer pure, and they would be forced to reincarnate again once they died. When the Chief of Heaven noticed the consequences Verloren's actions had on those souls he looked into, he fashioned seven heavenly lights out of Verloren's fragments, each with one of Verloren's powers, and sent them to execute him. Schedel's Crusade The ghosts drove Verloren to Seele, but were unable to destroy him. Faced with this, they instead used the powers of the two angel eyes (Mikhail and Raphael) to tear Verloren's soul from his body, in the hope that they never join again so he could never be at his full power. They sealed his physical body in Pandora's Box on earth, and used the Eye of Mikhail to make sure it could not escape from its prison. They sealed his soul using the Eye of Raphael, putting his soul in a human- and forcing it to undergo a process of constant reincarnation whenever the human body died- regardless of how the person had lived their life- so it could never enter Heaven again. Once the threat of Verloren was eliminated, the Seven Ghosts did not return to heaven; instead staying in the mortal world to serve as guardians. Though it was later revealed that another mission the Ghosts were to fulfill also involved taking Verloren to be judged in the Land of Seele, and was the only way by which they can return to Heaven. After sealing Verloren Now on earth, each Ghost assumed human form and went onto live human lives; they married humans, had children and died as humans. The Seven Ghosts and their human families went on to form the Seven Houses of God, and the Ghost's powers were passed onto their children, and further generations. The current ghosts are the descendants of the original seven. During the Raggs War and the Return of Verloren Around 990 years after Verloren had been sealed, the Eye of Raphael malfunctioned- resulting in Verloren's soul awakening (the human who was currently holding Verloren's soul regained all of Verloren's memories) and continued with Verloren's crusade against the Chief of Heaven. The descendants of the ghosts that first fought Verloren were again forced to re-group and fight. It is noted that Profe during this time was the only ghost seen to have been reincarnated as female. Currently, very little is known about the Ghosts' roles in the Raggs War save they assisted in Vertrag's plan of going through the God Houses to gather the 07 Sins to form the key for the Gates of Seele. A member of the Raggs family (the God house of Vertrag) and person acting as the Ghost Vertrag, Fea Kreuz, was accused of stealing and escaping with Pandora's Box, and it was this theft that sparked the Raggs War. Pandora's Box had been moved into a human- meaning Verloren's body was at a risk of escaping- so four Ghosts protected and guided Vertrag through the Seven God Houses in order to receive the cursed tickets and travel to the Land of Seele to destroy Verloren's body. This, coupled with the fact Verloren's soul had awakened, caused Ea and Landkarate to seperate from the others and go undercover into the military. However, the Ghosts were not successful in their mission, and it resulted in the death of one Ghost, Vertrag, whose reincarnation was killed by Ayanami and devoured by Verloren. The remaining six, however, escaped with their lives.Ayanami has not been seen with any of the remaining 6 Ghosts' powers after the Raggs War- showing Verloren has not devoured any of them. Modern history The Ghosts make their first appearance in the manga Vol 01 Chp 03 during the fight with the Old Man who was actually a Kor. Frau/Zehel, using the Scythe of Verloren, prevents Teito from meeting the dead Father Fea Kreuz. To his surprise, Teito was able to see the monstrous weapon and was even flung with it when Frau was making the attempt of taking the Old Man's soul back from the Kor. Trivia *Verloren's Scythe causes Frau to have a strange appetite in him to devour souls. Normally, Frau would only "eat" Wars in the process of eliminating them, but he said the taste of Wars are awfully foul that sometimes he wants to devour beautiful souls (like that of Ouka and Teito) because they look 'delicious'. Such souls excite the Scythe to the point it entices Frau (like in Vol 10 Chp 061) to kill the host of the soul, as Frau has laid his hand on Teito several times and would have devoured his soul if Teito had not pulled Frau out of the Scythe's clutch or possession. Only then was Frau able to awaken in time to stop himself from hurting Teito further, and then flee from Teito, making Teito upset (Vol 11 Chp 062). It is unknown if the Scythe causes only Frau, or all of its wielders (e.g Verloren, Zehel), to have a strong desire to devour beautiful souls. Some fans think the latter is more likely. *The Scythe often misbehaves around Frau (Vol 01 Chp 03), like refusing to go back inside Frau and making things hard for Frau in the sense that it often attempts to devour Teito's soul. But, the Scythe aided Frau once (Vol 14 Chp 082) by wrapping around him to protect him from Mikhail's direct attack. (When asked about the reason for the Scythe's sudden change of mind, it simply growled at Frau and said that it's because 'I haven't eaten anything tasty yet'.) Nonetheless, it is clear that between Verloren and Frau, the Scythe prefer the former to be its master or wielder, as shown in a manga chapter that when Frau was fighting against Ayanami, Ayanami asked the Scythe if it had forgotten him, making the Scythe aware that Ayanami is Verloren's reincarnation, and then it immediately stopped attacking Ayanami and helped Ayanami by making Frau difficult to wield it (the Scythe). *It is possible for female descendants of the Seven Houses of God to be reincarnated as Ghosts, but the Ghosts seem to be reincarnated as males more often than as females. So far, only one female Ghost reincarnation has been shown.. This could be because the Ghosts are sanctioned to protect the Church, but nuns are not very influential within the church compared to bishops. Also, since Verloren has the appearance of a male and the Ghosts are his fragments, it makes sense that they are reborn male more often. *It seems that the original Seven Ghosts i.e. the first generation of Seven Ghosts, are referred to as 'the Founders'. In manga chapter 42, when Castor, Lance and Labrador went to the Cuvere, Castor said: 'The place where the Founders sleep never fails to unnerve me.' References Category:Spirits Category:World of 07-Ghost